Inside Hint’s satirical, sexed-up campaign to make consumers crave water

Water is a necessity. Can it also be desirable?

That’s the pitch of flavored-water brand Hint’s new campaign, “Mmmmm Water,” which draws inspiration from luxury and fragrance advertising for a surprisingly sexed-up take for the category, Allison Cullman, Hint’s SVP, head of marketing, told us.

“We wanted to make water look like something that you crave, not something that you rationally should drink,” Cullman said. “Think slow-motion water pouring, overflowing from mouths, very exaggerated and hyperbolic, but still elevated.”

It’d be easy to mistake the first few seconds for something else—the cinematography, set design, soundtrack, and acting choices are all tonally aligned with a traditional fragrance or luxury ad. The ads, by creative agency Mythology and directed by Zach Tavel, poke fun at those tonal choices once it’s revealed that it’s an ad for water. That’s especially true in the 60-second spot, which starts with black-and-white cinematography and changes to color at the point of the big reveal.

The decision to push desire over function offers a point of differentiation for the brand amid a boom in health and wellness marketing, where hydration is an increasingly crowded subcategory.

“What we see today is that wellness is a lot of work, and work is no fun,” Cullman said. “There’s so much monitoring and biohacking and devices and supplements and so many functional things that are fighting for your attention. It’s overwhelming…We are emotional human beings. Our brains are wired to chase desire, not discipline. We operate on want, not should.”

Sip on this: In a world where singers like Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift are open about their wants, brands are borrowing from romance, and shows like Heated Rivalry are dominating culture, the changing cultural conversation around desire gave the brand permission to play with yearning in their spots, Cullman explained.

In addition to four new spots, the company created an OnlyFans page, where it will post “nude” bottles. The brand is also working with creators Yung Gravy and Ari Kytsya on posts that are comedically suggestive, and tapped Desperate Housewives actor Jesse Metcalfe to create thirst-trap content. The brand is also placing ad buys on media where stories of romance and attraction are front and center, like on Love Island and psychotherapist Esther Perel’s podcast, Where Should We Begin?

This work is Hint’s first national marketing campaign since 2024, and the push represents a “doubling” of its investment in marketing, Cullman said.

Douglas Brundage, founder and CEO of brand studio Kingsland, said he views Hint’s unusual approach as a continuation of what he calls the “Liquid Death effect.”

“This is a commodity market. It’s a commodity product,” he said. “Fiji did it with lifestyle, to a certain degree—but [Liquid Death] was one of the first brands to be like, ‘Why don’t we just be a marketing company?’”

While Brundage sees the ads as effective at getting consumer attention, he is curious about the campaign’s ability to move the needle. “It’s funny, but is it gonna convert? Is it gonna build business for them? I don’t know,” he said.